The Simple Things Make Life Great
by I Speak Sarcasm
Summary: I'm on spring break right now and have had inspiration to write quite a few Booth/Brennan fanfictions. They're all completely un-related one-shots written from various POV, so if you come across one that you don't like you can skip it.
1. The Sunset

**DISCLAIMER: These characters do not belong to me (as much as I sometimes wish a certain one of them did), and instead belong to FOX and all of those people. Unless that changes, this will remain here.**

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Temperance Brennan and Seeley Booth had just finished a case, and the former wanted nothing more than to get something to eat.

After catching the culprit, Brennan had called Angela to ask a question, and they ended up agreeing to meet at the diner for dinner. Booth, however, kept accidentally (although it didn't seem like an accident) messing up her plans.

First, he insisted on driving her to the diner.

"Booth, I don't understand _why_ you won't let me just take a taxi." She said, even as she was stepping through the passenger door of his car.

"Because Bones," He slammed her door closed and went around to the driver's side. Once he slid into his own seat, he continued (he knew that if he didn't, she would pursue the matter much further than necessary, so he spent the time traveling around the car to come up with a good reason). "I'm sure you would be _ever _so graceful hailing a taxi and all, but it's just not presentable for a woman of your stature. And what if the driver is an insane fan of your books? Besides," he added. "I'm going in that direction."

Why she still continued to argue even as Booth began driving, he didn't know. "But Booth, I'm perfectly capa-"

He rolled his eyes at her. She was being difficult. "I know you're perfectly capable, Bones. But like I just said – I'm going that way anyway."

She grumbled and if Booth didn't know her as well as he did, he would have expected her to begin pouting. But he knew better than to expect Bones to pout.

Brennan began to realize, after a few minutes, that they were going in the _opposite _direction. "Booth! I thought you said you were going _toward _the diner!"

He glanced over at her for a second before returning his eyes to the road and the car in front of him. "I'm sorry Bones, I just remembered that I left something at my office this morning."They arrived at a red light and he looked at her again for a few moments longer. He truly looked apologetic, and Brennan considered smiling at him to show that she wasn't mad. But this spurt of politeness was short-lived; the smile quickly turned into a scowl. Booth looked away, but Brennan thought she saw a smirk on his face.

They drew closer to the FBI building, and Booth saw Bones glances down at her watch more than once. He, however, was taking his sweet time. Her impatience amused him, and the fact that she was becoming even more annoyed amused him even _more._

Finally, they parked. Booth stepped out of the car and locked it before turning to Bones. "You know I'm just going in for a second, right?"

"Someone has to make sure you don't die while you're inside. The FBI building is a dangerous place, you know; what if you get shot in there?" She was smiling a little half-smile, and Both knew that she was making a joke. He smiled back, relieved. If she was making a joke, it meant that he was forgiven for being a protective pain.

As they made their way to his office, a few people stopped to talk to him. Most ignored Brennan, and only spoke to Booth for a few moments. The only one who seemed to even notice that Brennan existed was a woman that she had not previously met.

"Oh, Seeley, who's this?" the woman asked, looking at Brennan standing at Booth's side.

"This is my partner, Bones." He said, throwing his arm over her shoulder. They looked at each other at exactly the same time, and Brennan saw the glint in his eyes that always seemed to be there when he voiced her name. Or, rather, his nickname for her. She groaned when she realized this, a few seconds too late, and stepped out of Booth's grasp to extend her hand and say, "My name's Temperance Brennan." She said, smiling a bit.

The woman raised her eyebrows at Booth, but took Brennan's hand and shook it, saying "I'm Agent McDonald." She looked at Booth as she removed her hand from Brennan's again. "What brought on the name 'Bones'?"

Now this was where Booth had to think. He couldn't remember what exactly made him call Bones, well, Bones. All he knew was that he had started at some point, and now it was what he generally thought of her as (generally… But let's not go into detail here). But what he eventually decided on was, "Bones works at the Jeffersonian. She's a forensic anthropologist… So she tends to work with bones a lot. She started working with us and dealing with bones even more. They just happen to have been… alive more recently."

Brennan saw something change in Agent McDonald's face, and she opened up her mouth to say something else. Brennan, however, said, "Booth, Angela is probably wondering where in the world I am. Can we hurry this up a bit?"

"Oh, I have an obligation to rush off to anyway. Congratulations on catching your serial killer, Booth." She said, already making her way to the elevator.

They continued on the way to Booth's office. He rifled through the files in the drawers of his desk. Meanwhile, Brennan walked around and looked at the pictures he had around the room; he had added more since the last time she was in his office, including one of him with Parker in which Parker had his arms wrapped around Booth's neck and covering his eyes. They were both laughing, although the fact that the happy, full-of-life appearance that was usually in Booth's eyes was not in view because of Parkers hands. Brennan could imagine it, thought, and she smiled at the thought.

Finally, Booth located the file and rose from the floor, which he had been previously kneeling on. "Okay Bones, let's g-" He never finished the sentence, though, because the sky outside had caught his eye. Bones was looking at him, confused, but Booth was too busy thinking to notice. Why not show it to her? She would probably like it. "Bones, can I show you something?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not going to get to the diner tonight, am I?"

He laughed. "No, probably not. I think you'll really like it, though… Perhaps you should call Angela and tell her?"

She sighed. "Yeah, wait a minute."

Booth waited patiently beside Bones as she explained t o Angela that she wouldn't be able to meet her. She said something that made Bones scowl and roll her eyes, and Booth couldn't help but wonder what it was. But when she hung up, she smiled at him, so he returned the smile and led her out of the office, putting a hand on her back to lead her.

They didn't go back in the direction of the elevator, which made Brennan wonder _where _they were going. She looked up at Booth questioningly, but he ignored her, obviously thinking.

After walking through an area where most of the agents were already gone, they reached a door that said something about restricted access. Booth pushed it open. Instead of questioning him (it _was _restricted, after all), she followed him through the door and up a long set of stairs. They climbed for quite some time without saying a word. But as they continued, Brennan got a feeling that she knew where they were going to end up.

Her feeling ended up being correct. At last they reached a second door that Booth guided her through, and they were on the roof.

"Why'd you bring me up here, Booth?" she asked.

For a moment, Booth considered not saying anything. He almost just pulled her over to his favorite spot, behind the emerging spot that the door was built into. But he decided to say instead, "Follow me," and grinned in a way that might have been described as mischievous. He walked around to the other side and Bones stayed closed behind.

"Wow." She gasped. The buildings in Washington D.C. looked fantastic against the sky, in which t he sun was setting. "How did you ever discover this?"

He grinned. "Those cubicles that were passed right before entering the stairs are for the newest agents on our floor. When I was there, mine was right next to the door. How could I _not _see where it led?" He looked away from Bones and up at the sky. "I come up here to think now, for the most part. Gotta do it somewhere, right?"

Brennan smiled and looked at the sky again. "Yeah. Yeah, you do." She leaned against the wall behind her, as Booth did the same. They stood there for some time, watching the sun sink lower and lower beneath the buildings. Suddenly something Angela asked her months ago entered her mind again, for the first time in a long time. 'Have you ever noticed how much more special a sunset is when you're watching it with someone you care about?' At the time, she had said no. But now she knew. She smiled to herself. "Now I know." She whispered.


	2. I'll Love You Til the Last One Dies

**Booth's POV**

As soon as Angela announced that she wanted to do Secret Santas in the lab, I knew that Bones was going to be… difficult to convince, to put it lightly. She had told me on a few separate occasions that she thought this kind of stuff was pointless. And honestly, I had to agree.

But that was what made it so much fun!

"No." she said.

"But sweetie… It's so much fun! You don't even have to get a real gift if you don't want to; lots of Secret Santas give and get joke gifts."

She sighed. "Angela, I just don't see the point."

Angela sighed back at her before looking at me. "Booth, would you please try to knock some sense into Brennan here? It would be very much appreciated."

"What do you expect me to do?" I asked defensively. "I've been trying to convince her that these things are fun for _ages_. Why do you think she would change her mind?" If it weren't for the fact that Bones was looking at me behind Angela's back and mouthing "Don't", I would have kept talking. But her alarm at Angela asking me to convince her was so funny that I burst out laughing.

Immediately, Angela spun around and looked at Bones. She was smiling a little bit too once she seemed to realize that I wasn't going to insist on her doing anything. "Okay, if you change your mind, you know where I'll be. Booth, would _you _like to join in the fun?"

Without even pausing to think, I said, "Yeah, sure. I always know the perfect gift to get."

"The perfect gift to get for whom?" Sweets' voice was heard before we could actually see him because of the direction from which he was coming.

"We're talking about doing Secret Santas and what are you doing here? It's not…" I thought for a moment, then slapped my forehead. "Bones, you forgot to tell me we were supposed to go see Sweets today!"

The following things were uttered at the exact same time.

"Oh, I love Secret Santas! May I participate?"

"Booth, I don't think it's my responsibility to remind you of the day."

"Whoa, Sweets, I love that tie."

The second was the only thing I found any need to respond to. "It's your responsibility to remind me of a ton of things, Bones, and I could swear that the day of t he week was one of them.

Angela responded to Sweets by saying, "Of course you may participate!"

Sweets said "Thank you" to Angela about his tie, and then turned to Bones and myself. "Am I sensing an issue here that we need to look into?"

Bones said "No." and I was about to as well; it was our usual response when Sweets asked us such things. But then I decided to say "Yes. Bones doesn't want to do Angela's Secret Santa. Definitely an issue."

"I really don't think that's much of an issue we need to dis-" Sweets started. In fact, he almost finished. But he was then interrupted by a very rude person. An incredibly, overly rude person.

"It is too an issue we need to discuss." I said (no judging). "Bones never wants to do anything fun."

"Booth, has it ever occurred to you that maybe we have different ideas of what the word 'fun' entails?"

I sighed. "Bones… Would you please just give it a chance?" I don't know what it was about my expression, but something that I said as I looked across from her at my perch on the desk made her sigh and say "Fine."

Angela beamed. "Excellent." With that, she walked out of the room in the direction of the examination platform.

Sweets, on the other hand, continued looking between us. "So are we going to my office now for my session with you two or what?"

I could tell as soon as Bones and I looked at each other that neither of us was in the mood to go and talk to Sweets. "Sorry Sweets, but…" I hopped off the desk and grunted as I did so. "I think Bones and I are going to go to the diner. Catch you later, eh?" I clapped him on the back as Bones rose and followed close beside me, leaving Sweets standing there befuddled in her office, staring after us.

***

The next evening, I arrived with some coffee for Bones. Angela spotted me and said, "Oh, Booth, hey. We're all in Bren's office because we need to pick names. Come on."

Instead of saying that I was going there anyway, I decided t o just follow her.

Everyone else was already there, as far as I could tell – even Sweets. I was the only one late arriving to a party that I didn't know I was invited to. A few of them were exchanging small talk until Angela cleared her throat and produced out of her pocket-

"A Santa hat?" Bones exclaimed. "Ange, you're making us pick names out of a Santa hat."

"Hey Bones, it's just to enhance the fun." I moved around to hand her her coffee, and she took it wordlessly. I didn't know if the thank you was implied, or if she didn't want to thank me for making her do this.

Angela said, "What Booth said. Anyway, we'll all pick a name out, and then a week from today we'll congregate again and put the gifs out. The Secret Santa only has to admit him or herself to their giftee at the end if they want to. Although eventually people will be able to use their powers of deduction and reasoning to figure theirs out" she glanced pointedly at Bones "so there wouldn't really be any point in hiding it, especially here."

She proceeded to come around to us, and we stuck our hand into the hat and pulled a name out. When she reached me, there were at 4 slips left in it. I took hold of one, but changed my mind at the last second and pulled a different one out. I moved it so that only I could see it, and then looked down at the name.

I smiled; I could already think of some gifts.

**Brennan's POV**

"For a second I was worried that you had grabbed all of the names, and that there wouldn't be any left for me to choose." I spoke sarcastically; it was just that he had kept his hand inside that hat for so long, like he was able to tell which name was on each slip just by feeling them.

Reaching into the hat myself, I pulled out the first slip of paper that my finger touched. I looked down at the name – it was Angela. Well, at least I could actually come up with something to get her; I knew her taste, as well as her sense of humor.

"Whose name did you get?" I asked, peering over at Booth's own slip.

He quickly slid it into his pocket. "No one. Come on, let's get some food somewhere."

The sudden change of subject made me suspicious, but I was hungry so I grabbed my coat before letting him guide me out of the Jeffersonian and to his car.

For the next week, I thought about the whole Secret Santa ordeal as little as possible, only thinking about it when I remembered I needed to get Angela her present.

People arrived in my office and Angela brought in little cubbies. God, this was ridiculous and focused on far too much for my taste. Throughout the day, items had been placed in the cubby for their specific person. We all crowded around them (me a bit more unenthusiastically) and looked in the one labeled with our own name.

That was the first rose, accompanied with the smurf. There was also a note – it simply said, "Keep your eye out for more." I wasn't in the mood to share my confusing gift with those around me. They were all laughing uproariously as I moved to grab my coat and escape unnoticed.

There was another rose and another smurf underneath my coat. I picked these up as well and moved quickly out of my office and toward the garage to retrieve my car and go home.

"What the…" Another rose and smurf were leaning against my wind shield. I took them off and put them beside the others on the passenger seat. I was even more confused now. Who would give me three roses and three miniature smurfs?

I discovered another one of these wacky pairs in my mailbox (who whoever this person managed to accomplish this I couldn't even begin to guess, as you need a key to open it) and yet another was waiting on my doorstep. This made 5.

Not knowing what to do with these things, I placed the roses into a vase and lined the smurfs up on my coffee table.

I discovered no others that night, which I suppose was good because it meant that nobody had broken into my house, at least. The next day, however, I kept finding them elsewhere. Waiting on my welcome mat and car again (I was slightly surprised that they hadn't disappeard, even though why someone would steal a rose and a smurf I have _no _idea), my desk, the platform (boy, the expressions on the faces of Cam and Hodgins, who were already there and looking over a body we had received from China, could not be described), upstairs when I went to get some coffee and a sandwich from the vending machine, and the last one back in my office again. I had no idea how this person was getting around without my or anyone else seeing.

The ones that I had discovered today I placed on my desk, and I dropped the smurfs into my coat pockets and purse. I counted all the roses on my desk and, also counting those already in a vase at my house, I had 11.

I stayed at work until 7, almost 7:30, examining the male from 3rd century China (that died of a head injury, I had discovered). When I was finished with it, I went to my office.

Booth was leaning against the doorframe, looking as casual as could be. One hand was, however, behind his back. "Hey Bones, I was just looking for you."

I shrugged. "Well, you found me. What can I do for you?"

For a few moments, he paused, looking down at the floor. But then he looked back up at me. "I have something for you." And then he held his hand out. In it was a rose.

I reached out and took it from him to realize that it was fake. "It's not real…" I said slowly. "Why were the other ones real when this one isn't?"

He smiled. "Well, I heard this saying… It's pretty corny, but when I heard it, I thought immediately of you."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "What is this saying that made you immediately think of me?"

Booth looked embarrassed (was that a slight blush that I saw creeping up his cheeks? I had never seen Booth blush before), but he still looked straight at me as he said, "I gave you 12 roses – 11 real, and 1 fake. I'll love you until the last one dies."


	3. The Air and Space Museum

**I've never actually been to the Air and Space Museum, so I tried to go into as little detail as possible when it comes to the things in it.**

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**

On most occasions, weekends off were fantastic for Seeley Booth of the FBI. He was able to do things with his son, Parker, and just hang out and bask in the fact that he wasn't obligated to do anything of real purpose.

But he wasn't looking forward to this weekend off. Because for him, at the moment, two days off of work were two more days that he had absolutely no chance of seeing his partner, Temperance"Bones" Brennan.

Yes, there were some spurts of time that they didn't see each other because there was no case that required her to help, or she had to travel to examine remains. But he had not seen her for _six months._

It hadn't really sounded like much when she had told him that she'd be going to Asia for 20 weeks, after which she would have to fill out a lot of paperwork and such. But they had been unable to do anything together; even their phone conversations tended to be short, first because of the time difference, and then because they were both so _busy._

But for the past two weeks, Booth had been hoping; hoping for a call that would require him to in turn call Bones for some case no one could figure out. And he had always been disappointed. So for him, the weekend off was nothing more than two more days that he _knew _would be Bones-less.

He didn't try to let it appear that he was disappointed, though, as he drove to Rebecca's house and picked Parker up. He spoke with Rebecca for a little while, catching up with her and discussing the fact that Parker had been _very _energetic lately; it was something that they had both noticed, and she suggested that they do something that might calm him down some.

But when they hopped into the car, Booth did not say "Okay, for today I think we're just going to go to my house and watch the hockey game. Is that okay for you?" Instead, he decided to ask Parker, "What do you want to do today?"

"Um…" Parker thought for a moment, and Booth began to drive while letting him think. If he had to turn around to go where Parker wanted, that would be fine; after all, he _was _with the FBI. "In school we're talking about planes. Can we go to the museum with planes?"

Booth was surprised. "The Air and Space Museum?" When Parker nodded, Booth said, "Okay. That might be fun." He really meant it, too. He hadn't been to that museum for quite some time; any place that he would have considered going to with Bones, where he might have made some comment that she would correct him on (which was basically anywhere, honestly), he had been avoiding. And with that he made a U-Turn, causing those cars behind him to honk. "Hey Parker, how 'bout we turn on the siren and lights?" he said quickly, for an excuse to have done this. Parker did excitedly, and the honking immediately stopped.

While they were driving, Booth decided to try to make some small talk. "You said that you guys were talking about planes in school. What exactly were you talking about?" Parker was still rather young, so he knew that they wouldn't be going into complicated details. The thing was that many details about planes _were _complicated.

"We were talking about some of the different kinds." He said slowly. "Like passenger and fighter."

Booth smiled a bit. "Ah. Do you like learning about planes?"

"Mhm, I like it a lot." Parker said, nodding enthusiastically.

Well, whatever excited kids and made them want to learn, Booth figured. They drove for most of the rest of the way in silence, only breaking it to comment on such things as the rain outside (which Booth felt reflected his mood quite well, although he didn't say _this _to his son. He instead commented the loud pitter patter that it made on the roof of the car), as well as a man on the sidewalk who was having quite a lot of trouble opening his umbrella. There was an unusual amount of traffic for a Saturday (possibly because people wanted to travel around the city, but stay out of the rain), so they ended up seeing the man with the cruel umbrella finally open it and walk a block before going indoors again.

"He would have stayed drier if he just walked the block!" Booth laughed as he said it, and Parker laughed a little too.

At last, they reached the museum. Booth opened the car door for Parker and he jumped down onto the ground. Together, they hurried across the parking lot (it seemed as though many people had had the same idea of visiting the museum, for it was quite crowded) and inside, out of the rain.

It was then that Booth realized just what Rebecca had been talking about. Parker, he soon realized, was moving very quickly through the exhibits, not giving any of them much thought. "Parker," he said finally. "Don't you want to pay attention to all the different things that you're just passing by? It'd be a great thing to tell you teacher, that you went to the museum and saw some of the planes that you're learning about, you know. Not every city has a museum like this, after all; you should make the best of it."

Parker did listen to Booth's suggestion, which surprised him. They both spent more time examining the models, the information (which Booth read out loud to Parker), and just enjoying it more – because Booth could tell that Parker too was enjoying it more.

It was when they were in the cafeteria getting their over-priced lunches that it happened. Parker was looking around at the people sitting at the other tables and said suddenly, "Hey Daddy, is that Bones?"

Booth looked up from his food faster than you could imagine, looking in the direction that Parker was pointing. At first, he didn't see her; there were so many other people around, trying to buy food. But then she came into view. She was writing – how she managed to do so amidst all the noise he had no idea – with her hair creating almost a full curtain around her face. Booth couldn't imagine how Parker had managed to see her. "Parker, how in the world did you recognize her from this far away?" Booth asked, distracted. He wanted to go over and talk to her… But what would he say?

Before he had to come up with anything, Parker said, "I don't know, I just recognized her. Can we go over talk to her?"

"Yes." He said immediately. Leaving their sandwiches and pop discarded on the table, they weaved through the people until they were close enough for her to hear. "Bones!" he said excitedly.

She looked up at them, confused. But when she saw that it was Booth and Parker, she smiled a little. "What are you doing here?"

"Here in the museum or here standing next to you?" He didn't really think that this was the response that she was looking for, but he needed to know so that he didn't accidentally answer the wrong question and sound foolish.

"How about both?"

Okay, he could answer both. "Parker's been learning about airplanes in school, so he wanted to come here to see some. And then he saw you and wanted to say hello." To make his father's point, Parker said, "Hi Bones!" Booth then asked, "What about you; why are you here?"

She glanced down at the paper in front of her. "I was thinking about incorporating the museums in this town into my next book." She explained.

Wow, Booth thought. That would be really cool… "Like… they'd discover a set of bodies, one in each museum?"

The expression on Bones' face then could have been described as a smile, but Booth didn't really think that it was the best way to think of it, because she was talking about murders that she would be coming up with to write about. And really, that just wasn't something to smile at (unless you made as much money from it as she did). "Yeah, something like that."

Parker seemed fascinated by this idea. But then something else seemed to enter his mind. "Hey Bones, Daddy was talking about your books and he said that there was a person named Andy who was based on him. Is that true?"

Booth immediately cringed, without waiting for the expression that Bones was sure to give him. She gave it to him all the same as she said, "Andy's a fictional character, Parker; he's not based on anybody."

"Daddy said that's what you'd say…" Parker muttered.

She heard. Raising her eyes to Booth, who was looking anywhere _but _at her, and then lowering them back down to look at Parker again, she said, "Did he put you up to saying that?"

It was to Booth's incredible relief that Parker smiled and said, "No, he just said that's what you always say."

To get Bones to stop looking at him like that, Booth said quickly, "Hey Bones, Parker asked me this question about this plane, and I didn't know what the answer was. I told him that you would probably know; since you're here, mind if he asks?"

While it was obvious that she knew what he was trying to do, she took the bait and said, "Sure, what's your question?"

They ended up inviting her to finish going through the museum with them, and she agreed. The whole time Parker was running around and peering up at various things, Booth and Bones walked together. She was not one for small talk, so they mostly stayed silent. Eventually, however, Booth said, "You know I totally am, though. Andy Lister, I mean."

"You are not!" she said defensively.

"Am too!" he said in a sing-song voice.

She glared.


	4. She Is

She is intelligent.

_She really is _so_ smart. She has to be, with her job. But she isn't obnoxious about it – usually. Of course there are times when I wish that she could just shut up, but I love her for it all the same. I can't help but admire the way she knows so many facts, and is always listening and ready to correct me when I mess something up. If it were anyone else, I would have gotten mad at them ages ago; you would too, if people made it obvious that you were less intelligent than you. But I know that she's insanely smart. She can't help it, and I love her for it._

She is beautiful.

_I have never met anyone as beautiful as her. Her hair is so soft, so smooth, so wonderfully-smelling, and the perfect shade of brown to go with her eyes. And oh, how much I love her eyes. They're an amazing blue-gray shade that I could stare into forever. Sometimes, I feel like I almost do. But she never lets me; she always tears me away just when it's about to be bad that I'm still watching. And her skin… Her skin is beautiful. It's such a creamy shade. I never noticed skin tone until I met her; when I had met her, I realized that no color could possibly rival hers, could possibly look as soft as hers does. Every day that I see her is another day that I can bask in her perfect-ness. I love every second of it._

She is patient.

_Some people would say that she has no patience whatsoever. I suppose this could definitely be true. I definitely don't think she had patience with me when I first met her. Instead, she was ridiculous and difficult and it made me want to scream and stamp my feet just to get her to realize that I can learn. It just might… take longer than for some other people. But I didn't have to; she somehow learned this on her own, and now she is patient with _me_, at least, if not anybody else. She takes the time to try to explain things to me that she would have immediately thought that I wouldn't understand at first. And sometimes, I really _don't _understand. But she still gives me the chance. She is most definitely patient._

She is unusual.

_This is, of course, in the best way possible. Her reactions are never the ones I expect, so every time I say something to her I'm in for a surprise. Never knowing what I'm going to hear, what is going to happen when I'm with her… I would never have thought that I'd love being with someone so unpredictable, but I do. She understands the most random references, the most random jokes, the most random things that could ever be understood._

She is strong.

_During her life, she's been through many pains, many trials, and she's gotten through all of them okay. From her father leaving, to coming back, to him leaving again, to her brother doing the exact same thing, to witnessing friends almost killed, or tortured, or put into mental institutions, or just treated cruelly, she has been through a _lot_. But that's not the only way she's strong. She is so, so, physically fit; it's a wonder she hasn't tried to beat me up from all the times that I've been obnoxious in her vicinity. Although if any woman tried to attack me, tried to beat me up, and succeeded… I would want it to be her._

She is Temperance Brennan.

_My partner, my greatest confidant, is the woman I love. She's the woman I admire, the thing that I think about first when I wake up in the morning, and the thing I think about last before I fall asleep. She haunts my dreams, and my waking thoughts. She is a great, _great _part of what I've focused my life around for three years. I love her with every fiber of my being._

And she is mine.

_Every day, for the past three years, I've wanted to do something about her. I've wanted to ask her out for dinner, show her that I'm not just what someone might see on the outside. Every day, I've admired her, I've respected her and acknowledged her corrections when I made a stupid mistake (usually, at least). And today, finally, I did something. I put everything up on the line, everything that my life has shaped into since I met her four years ago. For the first time ever, I voiced out loud the words I've been thinking for God only knows how long: _I love you unconditionally, and I always will. _And she didn't falter for even a second when she told me, finally, that she loved me too. My Bones is now really that: _my _Bones._


	5. The Alphabet

**This one is the one I most disliked so far; I feel like I almost wrote it just for the line at the end. But I'm posting it anyway, because it is slightly amusing.**

**~_~_~_~_~_~**

When Cam challenged Bones and myself to come up with words that started with every letter of the alphabet related to either the lab or science in general, I'll admit I thought we'd be done quite fast; she was trying to come up with something to occupy us with, I think. We were arguing quite a bit, I will admit. She exiled us and we were sent to Bones' office to stay until we were done.

"This is stupid." I said as soon as I sat down on the couch.

"Can we just finish this so that I can go back and look at those remains?" Bones was impatient, and I didn't want to fight with an impatient Bones – anymore than I had been, I mean. So I simply pulled out a sheet up paper to write the words down and agreed.

"A," I said, writing it down. "Um… Anthropology. Simple enough, don't you think?"

She raised her eyebrows at me. "Anthropology?"

It annoyed me that she didn't explain what she thought was so trivial about the word "anthropology". It was a good enough word, in my opinion. It connected to the lab, at least. "Yes. Should I write down an explanation, since you seem to think that 'anthropology' has nothing to do with science whatsoever?"

"Sure." She said immediately; I got the feeling that she was trying to make life difficult for me. "Write an explanation."

I ended up writing:

**A – anthropology**

**Because it's related to Bones' title as a Dr.**

She scowled at me, I think because I referred to her as "Bones" again, but she didn't say anything except, "B."

"Bones." I said without thinking, and I wrote it down.

For a few seconds, she didn't say anything. Then she blurted, "Why is it capitalized when 'anthropology' isn't?"

I sighed. Was it really so difficult for her to get? "Because it's not just what you squints work with; it's you, Bones."

"I completely and totally object. Don't say that I'm Bones."

**B – Bones**

**Squints work with them; Bones is Bones.**

"You're impossible." She groaned.

I resisted the urge to retort "Your mom is impossible." Instead, I said, "What about C?" We had both been exiled, so I figured she might at least be willing to incorporate her brain power somewhere.

"C… C…" she said thoughtfully, the annoyance in her voice from my "Bones" usage disappearing slightly. "What about… Cam – the bi-"

"Whoa whoa, Bones, swearing is not necessary. I was getting annoyed with myself. You gotta admit we were being a bit childish, arguing like that." I said quickly. "Besides," I added. "She's your boss."

It seemed as though she didn't care whether Cam was her boss or not. She changed her explanation, however. "Just say 'boss', then. And 'Booth's old arm candy', if you feel like it."

I didn't feel like it.

**C – Cam**

**Boss**

When I didn't include her added input, she smirked at me, but didn't say anything about it. I liked it that way, and was relieved when she asked "D?"

This one took me longer. I didn't know science-y things. What was there in the lab that began with D? But then, just when I was about to tell her to come up with something, I knew what to write.

**D – danger**

**Come on, have you **_**looked **_**at what's happened around here lately? I bet you've seen more happen to your scientists in the past 3 years than what happened in 20. It's like we're on a television show or something, I swear to God.**

Bones laughed at this one. "You're probably right. Ever since you came along, danger's been around every corner."

"Oh well, you know me. If I don't have some good healthy explosion or near death every day, I just don't feel fulfilled." The fact that we could go from fighting to joking around so quickly was insane. We would be at each other's throats in a second.

"E…" Bones said slowly. She snatched the pen out of my hand and spun the paper around to write beneath my explanation for the letter D:

**E – explosions**

**See above comment.**

I couldn't help but notice how neat her handwriting looked compared to mine. I took the pen and paper back immediately. "You have caused quite the amount of explosions. Zach and Hodgins especially." As soon as I spoke those words, I regretted it; her eyes clouded over, and I knew that she was thinking about Zach's "miscalculations" of human actions. Quickly, I said, "Um, F?" There were a few things that _I _was able to think of, but I didn't think that any of these ideas would be acceptable for Cam.

After my comment about Zach, Bones seemed to return to being annoyed with me. "Frustrated."

**F – frustrated**

**Because you all can be **_**seriously **_**frustrating sometimes.**

"And you _aren't _frustrating?" she asked, looking up at me.

Well, y'know. Maybe I'm just awesomer than they are. Out loud, I said, "Never."

"G," was all she said in response. Looking at her expression, the phrase that entered my mind was "If looks could kill…"

"Green beans." I said. I didn't know if I was trying to annoy her further and be obnoxious, or if I was just not thinking.

She blinked at me. "Green beans? Grean beans?! What do green beans have to do with science?"

"They're plants." I said defensively. They were; at least I didn't suggest something like George Washington.

Instead of battling with me (perhaps she realized that I was not going to change my mind on the subject), she said with gritted teeth, "Fine. Green beans."

**G – green beans**

**… Bones made me think of this one. Don't judge. It's a plant, isn't it?!**

My mind was beginning to cloud over, and think about where I was going to go for dinner that night; I was starting to agree with Bones on how pointless the whole exercise was. They were just trying to get rid of us! Why not at least do it in some way that wasn't obvious? Giving up the pen and paper again, I surrendered "H" to her to figure out. Within five seconds she had written:

**H – humorous**

**Laughing. Ha ha tee hee ho ho. Funny things.**

"Descriptive…" I mutter sarcastically.

"Oh, be quiet. You wouldn't have come up with something better." Her eyes challenged me to do so, even though what she already had written she knew I wasn't going to cross out.

I didn't bother to argue with her. "I know what to put for 'I'." I claimed before taking the pen and paper from her again.

**I – intelligent**

**If any of you argue about this I'll shoot you. And then blame it on Bones.**

"Violence is _not _the answer." Bones simply said.

This made me laugh, although it was slightly bitter and ominous. "They won't know that you said that when I tell my side of the story."

"Right. And who would they believe: the forensic anthropologist with no gun, or the FBI agent with numerous weapons?"

Haha. She was _wrong_. "What are you talking about Bones? You _do _have a gun, remember?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at her.

"… Of course I don't have a gun… with me…" Furious, she decided to change the subject. "J."

"Hodgins." I said immediately.

The befuddled expression on her face was exhibiting far too many confused signals. "Hodgins begins with the letter 'H', Booth."

Seriously? "His first name is _Jack, _Bones. Jack, as in jay aye see kay."

"… Right. Sorry."

**J – Jack**

**Hodgins; did I really remember this before Bones did?**

This time, she didn't choose to say anything. "Can you think of anything for K?"

"Yep!" I said happily.

**K – Krispy Kremes**

**I don't know, they're good!**

Obviously, Bones didn't think that this really counted. "A) Ew. B) Krispy Kremes have absolutely nothing to do with science _or _this lab whatsoever."

"Ew? Are you _kidding_? Krispy Kremes are my reason for living!" Well, maybe not _quite _my reason for living.

She seemed to realize this too. "You are _completely _exaggerating."

"Am not!" I spoke defensively.

Rolling her eyes, she said, "Just give me the pen and paper so that I can write down L. I know _just _what to say."

I thought this was wise; God only knows what I would have ended up putting down for that letter. There are endless opportunities – none of which would be really… acceptable by Cam (or Bones, for that matter). So I turned them over to her.

**L – luck**

**So many near-death experiences… Yet we're all still alive.**

"Definitely true." I agreed, nodding. "Although obviously some of it has to do with the fact that I'm here."

Her expression, again, was one of killing status. "Booth, remember when you 'died' a while ago? For the whole time you were gone, absolutely _nothing _happened to _any of us_. It's you that _brings _danger, not you that saves us from it."

"Poh-tay-toe, Poh-tah-toe…" I said, rolling my eyes. "M… Oh! I know what to put for M!"

She returned the items again, saying, "If you put down another food before Q, I'm going to kill you."

"Didn't you say that 'violence is not the answer'?" I retorted.

"I meant that violence is not the answer to _that particular question_. I think it most definitely is for this one."

**M – mischief**

**Really, you would not believe some of the stuff I've had to explain to other agents. They think I'm letting some lame squints boss me around, with all you've done.**

Immediately, Bones' expression changed from one of irritation to amusement. "You _do _let some lame squints boss you around. Why do you think your IQ has gone up considerably since you started working with us?"

Ouch. A jab at my _IQ _of all things. Completely and totally appropriate, for a squint at least. "We can discuss my IQ later. I thought you said you had a body you wanted to examine."

"I do." She said quickly.

I smirked at her before writing down "N".

**N – novels**

**Bones writes them. **

"My my, isn't that original." She said sarcastically.

**O – octagon**

**An octagon is related to math, and math is so closely related to science that they're basically the same thing, aren't they?**

"You cannot be serious. They're not the same thing at _all._"

"I'm completely and utterly serious!" I protested. "My teachers always talked about how science and math are incorporated with each other!"

She raised her eyebrows at me. "I think you had some bad teachers."

"P…" I grumbled back, extending my arm out to give her the paper.

**P – patience**

**You have none.**

"_I do _too _have patience!" _I said indignantly.

Laughing, she said, "Right. You didn't have the patience to come up with an actual G _or _an actual K. That's just two measly letters. You're telling me you have patience?"

It's not my fault if there's absolutely nothing that begins with G or K! "I _do _have patience.. Just not with this. I thought you didn't have patience with it either, with all the time you spent complaining about it. And give me the paper back."

**Q – quail**

**Quails are birds, birds are animals, animals are science-y. Right? Therefore, quails are science-y.**

"I thought I told you no foods."

Well yes. I suppose she did. But… "You only said no food until Q. Besides, quails aren't just _eaten! _They fly free, in the wild, with the strength of th-"

"I get it, I get it. Stop being so dramatic about it." She was annoyed again.

**R – ridiculous**

**Because you're being ridiculous.**

She read it upside-down (God only knows how she does it so fast) and then gaped at me. "Is that supposed to be talking to me? I am _not _being ridiculous!"

"Ha. You're being crazy ridiculous!"

I almost expected her to reply, "Your mom is being crazy ridiculous." But she didn't. Bones never would. Instead she said, "If I'm being ridiculous, then you're being impossible."

"How in the _world _am I being impossible?! I'm trying to get this done so that you can go and examine that body you seem so antsy about!" Was she really serious? How could she say that _I _was the one being impossible? That was just… ridiculous!

Bones glared at me. A very, very angry glare. "I would have been examining that body that I'm so antsy about by now if you weren't here being so impossible!"

"I wouldn't be so impossible if it weren't for the fact that you're behaving in such a ridiculous manner!"

She huffed and said, "Okay, fine. Whatever. We're almost done; already on S. Let's just finish so that we can go back." I heard her mutter under her breath, "So that I can be in respectable society."

I let it go.

**S – Sweets**

**Our therapist who puts up with us for some strange reason (perhaps because we were **_**sent **_**to him, but that's only my guess)**

"Are you sure names count?" she asked.

"… It's too late to fix J, and so we're leaving it. Unless you'd rather I put my name." I responded. I figured she would rather Sweets be put down than myself.

I was right. "Fine. Leave it."

**T – trouble**

**Really, have you **_**seen **_**all the stuff that's happened to the woman sitting across from me? She's been kidnapped more than once, she's been in the midst of multiple explosions…**

"Why are you using _me _as the only example? Everyone here has gotten into some trouble! Besides," she added. "trouble and mischief seem rather close together to both be used."

"It's in pen," I was getting _very _irritated, and wanted to leave the room already. "It's put down for good."

"Fine." I couldn't tell if Bones was truly as upset as I was, or if she was just trying to sound like it to intimidate me. Hah. Like that would actually _work_. "Let me think of U."

"Fine." I spat.

**U – unbearable**

**Yes, you.**

"You really are the most impractical, unfair, totally biased person I know."

The smile on her face was a cold one. "I'm just trying to speak the truth." Oh right, the truth. It's not fair when the "truth" is an opinion. She should know the difference, of all people.

"Okay, sure. Whatever you say Bones. Now give me the stupid sheet back; you don't get to write anymore down, I'm afraid."

"Oh, if you disagree, I could write something else; unreliable, uncontrollable, unusual, unctuous… Take your pick."

I didn't even know what that last one was. "I don't give a damn if you keep it there or not, just give the paper to me now."

**V – vicious**

**Cuz your words are very, very vicious. **

Bones rolled her eyes. "What are you talking about? You started it with your comment on my clothing; you told me that a caveman would have refused to wear it. Do I say that about _your _suits? No. It was completely unnecessary. Oh, there's another U word that fits you perfectly! Unnecessary. I should definitely make a list."

"Right. And telling me that it looked like a _blind _person did my hair and wardrobe wasn't mean at all. You totally just fought fire with fire, Bones."

"It _does_ look like a blind person did your hair and wardrobe! And you fought my fire with your own fire right back, so don't act like you weren't just retaliating with even worse insults."

I did not want to admit that she was right. We had both been arguing, with crueler and crueler insults each time, since I got to the lab. It was no wonder Cam sent us a way. But there was no way I was going to concede that we had done even that much. "Bones, we have 4 letters left. Can we just finish? Please?"

"W for Washington DC. Obviously."

I glared at her before writing it down

**W – Washington DC**

**It's kind of where the lab **_**is, **_**stupid.**

"Nice little Booth touch." She said sarcastically. "The whole stupid part, I mean."

"I quite agree. Continue with words please."

"Well…" She sat there thinking for a few moments, and her softened expression made me smile a bit. But then I remembered that we weren't supposed to be smiling at each other; we were supposed to be arguing. I quickly hardened my expression again in time for her to look back at me and see me glaring. "X for X-ray."

**X – x-ray**

**Really, have you **_**been **_**in a hospital lately? Dentists do them too, have you been to one of **_**those?**_

Before she could give me the other two, I wrote down my own ideas; if I were to vocalize them, she would immediately say no. I imagined myself doing an evil laugh as I finished.

**Y – yuck**

**Cuz that's what I think when I look at Bones.**

**Z – zoo**

**It has animals… Animals are science-y. You know the drill.**

Bones didn't even read Z. As soon as she saw Y, she burst out, "Oh, don't you think you're _so _sm-"

"Well Bones," I said before she could finish. "I really would love to stay and chat, but I have to go get dressed. I'm going out for _dinner _tonight; remember when I mentioned that to you?"

"Vaguely," she said carefully.

Dinner. Ah, how much I was looking forward to dinner. "Yes. So ta-ta for now; see ya later, Bones." And with that, I stood up and turned to the door, opening it to leave.

Angela and Hodgins fell backwards and landed on the floor. I glanced back at Bones, who had seen it as well. "I think some people are interested in how we talk to each other, Bones. Any idea why that is?" Bending down to Angela and Hodgins, I dropped the paper down in between them. "Give that to Cam for me please." I said in a much sweeter tone than I wanted to.

When I was a few steps away, I heard Angela stage-whisper to Hodgins, obviously to make sure that I could hear her, "They are totally sleeping together."

I smirked, but didn't turn back to reply. I simply hoped that Bones would see the note I "accidentally" dropped on her desk on my way out that read "See you tonight" before anyone else did.


	6. Inspiration

Temperance Brennan had just found inspiration. For weeks, she had had writers' block; being the rational woman that she was, she usually disputed the fact that writers' block even actually _existed_. But then it happened to her. For almost a month, she could not come up with _anything _to write about whatsoever.

And then she had an idea. An amazing, fantastic idea. So obviously she needed to write it all out before she forgot about it. Her cell phone was turned off; her home phone sent each call directly to voice mail. She ordered enough take-out to last her for the entire day. Even if it went cold, she would still eat it. It didn't matter to her what condition it was in (as long as it wasn't moldy).

Her doors were locked, and she informed the doorman not to let anyone in for her unless it was _seriously _urgent.

The one thing that she forgot to do was inform her boss and those that she worked with that she had reached inspiration.

It took a while for Cam to realize that Temperance was even gone. When she did, she asked Hodgins if he knew where she was. He didn't know, so he asked Angela. She didn't know either. So Angela called Booth.

Being the omnipresent person that I am, I know that this was not a good idea. Not at all. You see, Booth was… slightly concerned. By which I mean incredibly, incredibly concerned.

"What do you mean Bones hasn't showed up to work?"

"Well," Angela said. "What I mean is that she hasn't showed up to work. Do you have any idea why that might be?"

"Why would I know? I don't spend every waking minute with her."

Angela rolled her eyes and muttered, so that he couldn't hear, "Well, you never know." Raising her voice so that it was audible, she added, "Okay, so you _don't _know where she is?"

"Did you say what I thought you just said?" He narrowed his eyes, even though he knew that she wouldn't see it; after all, he was in his office, and she was at the lab. But he knew that he was narrowing his eyes with suspicion, and that was good enough.

"No. And again: do you not know where she is?"

Booth decided to let it drop. "No, I don't know where she is. But… I kind of want to check. I needed to leave this stuffy office for a little while anyway." He was trying to sound relaxed, but inside he was worrying, already thinking about what could have happened to her. _What if she was kidnapped? _He thought to himself. _No, that's a ridiculous idea. There's no one right now that we've heard about that would consider kidnapping her. _

"Okay. Call me if you find out what's happened please. We're all a bit curious as to what's happened."

"Oh, don't worry, I will." Booth said absentmindedly. Then he hung up.

A part of him wanted to just go straight to her house and check there. But he knew better than to do that; he was too practical to do that. So he picked up his phone and pressed a number on speed dial. Temperance's cell phone number showed up on the screen, and he put his phone against his ear, expecting to hear it ringing. But it went straight to voice mail.

_Maybe she turned it off last night when she was going to bed, and forgot to turn it back on. _He was trying to be logical, but he was becoming more anxious by the second. _Okay, I'll call her home phone. _He pressed another number on speed dial. It went straight to voice mail too.

_I should probably go over to her house and just… check to see if she's there before I do anything more rash. _He decided. Immediately, he leapt out of his chair and hurried out of his office. A few people that he passed looked at him, confused, because he was moving so quickly. He didn't take the time to explain, though. Why should he, when he didn't know what was going on with Temperance?

It wasn't until he got to his car, however, that he realized he had left his car keys in his office. Grumbling at himself, wondering how he could have made such a stupid mistake, he went back into the building and rode the elevator up to his floor, getting off and sprinting back.

"Booth, what in the _world _is making you run so fast?" asked an agent that he had almost run over.

_My partner is MIA, that's what's making me run so fast. _He thought of saying. But he didn't. "I forgot something, and I'm in a bit of a hurry to get somewhere. Things to do, places to go, people to check up on…" At the last comment, the agent looked at him with a confused expression on his face, but Booth ignored it and continued down the hall.

Finally, he had his keys, and was in his car. There were still enough people traveling to their places of business that he was somewhat held up as he drove to Temperance's apartment.

Booth never listened to music when he drove because he liked spending some time thinking. At the moment, though, he wished he had a CD there. All he could think about was why Temperance might have possibly _not _have answered either of her phones or shown up for work.

_Maybe she wasn't kidnapped. Maybe she was killed on her way home. _He considered. _That would be horrible… But no, we would have heard about that. Maybe… maybe she was on a date last night and… slept over? _This seemed rather practical – much more practical than his two other ideas, at least – but he didn't want it to be true. In his opinion, it would be just as bad if she was on a date as if she died or was kidnapped.

Or… almost as bad. If she was simply with a guy, at least she was still alive and well.

_No, Bones would probably mention her dates, to Angela at least. I thought they were good friends; isn't that something women share with their good friends? So that can't be it. Maybe… Maybe she took a trip out of town. Without… telling anyone, and without… bringing her cell phone. Or maybe she did, but she had to turn it off cause she's on a plane. Or it ran out of battery and she forgot the charger at home. Yes, that's probably it. She went on a trip, and forgot her phone. She's done that before, right? I'm sure she'll call work as soon as she gets to a phone somewhere._

Booth had no confidence in this theory, really; his mind kept picturing her dying various gory deaths, no matter how much he tried to stop it. He was already imagining what he'd do if he discovered that she was gone. He was an FBI agent; surely he could pull some strings to get them to begin investigating right away.

Finally, he arrived in front of her apartment building. He practically sprinted out of his car, and beeped it closed from the doorway of the building before going inside. He climbed up the stairs three at a time, not having the patience to wait for the elevator and go its speed; he needed to go his own.

The door didn't appear to have been damaged at all. This suggested that no one had broken in, at least. He found himself more relieved already, but he still was obviously concerned. Lifting up his hand, he knocked as hard as he could. Multiple times.

She didn't come to open it; he waited for about 3 minutes. And so he knocked again, adding a (possibly slightly worried-sounding) "Bones? You in there?"

Although he didn't know it, Temperance was indeed there. But she had very good reason for not being able to hear him. She was sitting with her laptop on her bed, listening to some music to help the thoughts come in the right way. She couldn't hear Booth; Booth couldn't hear her typing _or _her music.

When she didn't come to the door after he knocked twice, he did the first thing he could do: he barged through the door, knocking it to the side.

The music was audible to him as soon as the thick door was out of the way. "Bones, are you here? And if so, why the hell did you not answer the door?"

It was probably a good thing that he had asked this. As soon as Temperance heard the door crash open, she jumped up and threw open her bedside table, pulling out the gun that Booth had once vetoed because it was "far too big". She moved as quietly as possible to her bedroom door with the gun ready. And then she heard his voice.

"Booth, what are you _doing _here?" She immediately lowered her gun and entered the living room to see him standing there.

"I was looking for you! Angela called me and told me that everyone at the lab was wondering _where _you were. I tried calling you on both your cell phone _and _your phone here, but you didn't answer either. So I drove over here, and knocked on your door – twice. You didn't answer; what did you expect me to do?"

Temperance blushed. She knew there was something she had forgotten to do! "Stupid Bones." She muttered to herself. Louder, she said, "I had sudden inspiration for my book, I apologize."

Booth looked carefully at her. "Did you just call _yourself _Bones? But Bones, you never call yourself Bones."

"I must have slipped up; you refer to me as such so often that it's a miracle that I just don't introduce myself as Bones." While she was embarrassed, she didn't let it show. Surely it wasn't the first time that she had called herself Bones in his vicinity… But no matter.

He grinned. "You just called yourse-" He never did finish; before he could, the smell of the take-out that Brennan had ordered hit his nose. "Did you… did you get…?"

She rolled her eyes. _Oh Booth… _she thought. "Yes. Would you care for some?"

"I would _love _some!" he said excitedly.

"I was eating it in my room."

Rubbing his hands together, he followed her. If it were any other woman, he would feel awkward about going into her bedroom and eating on her bed. But with Bones, he was completely at ease as he followed her through the doorway. "Oh, um, sorry for knocking your door down." He added.

They sat on her bed together for a while, eating and talking. Eventually Booth asked, "So Bones, what was this sudden inspiration that you couldn't wait to write out?" He peered over at her laptop screen, trying to see it.

She quickly turned it away from him. "Oh, it was nothing. You'll just have to wait until it gets published, I'm afraid."

"What? You mean you won't let your own partner read your book beforehand? Second opinions are always good, you know."

"That's what my editors are for." She said dryly, even though she caught his joking tone.

He smiled. "Oh well." For a few seconds, neither of them moved or spoke. And then he lunged across the bed for the laptop. Now that he knew that Bones was completely and utterly fine, he had no qualms with being obnoxious once again.


	7. Road Trip

"'Oh no,' you said. 'We can drive to Des Moines by tomorrow.' Look what you've got us into now!" I was grumpy, and I could tell that Booth was too. He had no reason to be, in my opinion; he was sitting in the passenger seat and had just woken up from a three-hour-long nap. I was the one that had been stuck awake for the _entire trip._

He groaned as he pulled the seat up. "I'm _sorry _Bones. Are you okay? You look tired."

I glared at him, but quickly turned my eyes back onto the road. It was so dark that I had to concentrate on it completely. "Wow, I wonder _why_. I can't help but wonder if you have no idea where Des Moines _is_."

"Of course I know where Des Moines is! It's in Ohio, right?"

… Ohio. "Actually, it's in _Iowa_."

Silence. "Oh. Why didn't you tell me that before?!"

"I _tried to._ I'm really sorry Booth, but I am in serious need of some _sleep_. And for the record, I hate you, first for keeping me awake with your monologue, and then for insisting that you needed sleep."

"But Bones…" he whined. "I'm still tired."

Says the man who was sleeping next to me (very loudly) for three hours. "I don't give a damn how tired you are. If I don't get sleep soon, I swear I am going to fall asleep at the wheel and crash."

For a few moments, he considered this. "We could always go and check into a hotel for the night."

"It could take _hours _to find a hotel in rural Ohio at this time of night where someone will still be awake and waiting for people who might want to check in." I hated to think of the conditions of any hotels that we might actually _find. _Images of run-down bathrooms with rusty water entered my head, and I shivered. I wanted _my _bed back in Washington D.C. I did not want a case to deal with all the way in Iowa.

He laughed. I tried to wait for him to stop, but he kept on with it for far too long. "You're probably right; it _could _take hours. Luckily for us, I just saw a sign saying that there'd be one 3 miles down the road."

… Oh. I would have noticed it if I wasn't focusing on the road, I swear. I'm observant normally, but I was _tired. _"Fine. You can get more sleep, and I can get _some _sleep. You are paying, because you're so insistent on sleeping more, and you are explaining why we're late when we get there 5 hours after we promised we would."

"You're planning to sleep for 5 hours when we're on our way to a case?" He sounded amused, and it annoyed me. "You can have 3."

"4 and a half."

"4."

"4 and a half." I said again, looking over and glaring at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. 4 and a half hours."

We pulled in to the parking lot of the hotel as I smirked to myself.

The man standing at the desk was dozing, half asleep, as we walked through the doors. While it wasn't the way I had pictured it (it was slightly better), it still had an old, rickety feel to it. The lobby was small, and the walls and floor were made out of wood (although I assumed that there was more material on the walls behind the wood), with a carpet covering much of the floor. The desk kept up the wooden theme, and there were cubbies for each room that made me think of the hotels in those old movies.

Booth walked up to the desk and ringed the bell, even though it was obvious the man was semi-conscious. I couldn't tell if he pushed the button because he wanted to gain the attention of the worker, or if he did so because he thought it looked fun. The man jumped about 5 feet into the air and saw us. "Hello, hello. Are you two looking for a room?" He didn't appear at all daunted by the fact that we had not dragged any suitcases inside with us.

_No, we thought we would just come and visit with you at 2 in the morning. _I thought, rolling my eyes. Meanwhile, Booth (who has more patience than I) said, "Yes please."

"With two beds, please." I added.

The man nodded and turned around, looking at the cubbies. He reached up for one of them, put his hand in, and then paused. He turned back around to face us again, apologetic. "We're rather full at the moment – a family reunion camping trip gone wrong – and we have no rooms with two beds left, I'm afraid."

_Oh wonderful. _I tried to hide my annoyance as Booth shrugged and took another key. "I'll sleep on the couch, or the floor if I need to." He promised softly as we walked up the stairs.

The hallways were narrow and looked much the same as the lobby, with oil lamps every couple yards on the walls. We walked down to the end of one of them, and I was glad that the carpeting muffled our footsteps; it would make me feel really guilty if we woke people up with our dragging steps this late at night (or early in the morning, whichever way).

As soon as we opened the door, I realized that the floor would definitely _not _be eligible to sleep on; the room was incredibly cramped, with about a foot between the bed and both walls. I was starting to think that my image of rural hotels was more spot on than it originally seemed. Quickly, I glanced around for a couch. I saw none.

Frustrated, I dropped myself onto the bed, face into my pillow. When I looked up, Booth was looking at me apologetically. "I'm sorry Bones. I swear I don't bite." And then he followed me down onto the bed, although keeping a noticeable distance between us.

"I should be making you sleep in the bathtub for forcing us to stop instead of just agreeing to drive." I mumbled. The last thing I heard before falling into a deep sleep was his laughter.

When I woke up to sunlight coming through my eyelids, the first thing I realized was that I was _not _in my bedroom; the bed felt strange and foreign to me. My second realization came when I noticed that my head was not on the pillow, where it had started out. I quickly opened my eyes and looked around.

Somehow, while asleep, I had managed to place my head on Booth's shoulder and curl up by his side. One of his hands was over one of mine.

I blushed, quickly shrinking away and returning to my side of the bed when I realized that his eyes were still closed and that he was probably still asleep. But as I listened to his breathing I realized it was much too quick and shallow for him to be asleep. "Booth," I said, irritated. "I know that you're awake." I blushed even more as I spoke; he knew how close I had ended up to him, even though it was most definitely not on purpose.

We spoke as little as possible. For me, it was because I felt so embarrassed and awkward. I don't know why Booth wasn't talking when he had been so into starting conversation the day before, but I like not being in Booth's head, personally, so I didn't spend much time wondering.

At last, we arrived in Des Moines, tired and hungry. We pulled up in front of the police station, which was where we had agreed to meet, and went inside. "Why are you two so late? There can't really have been that much traffic in the middle of the night."

We both sighed and said at the exact same time, "It wasn't my fault." Booth was obviously not thinking about last night, I decided, and I added, "Besides, we ran into a little snag. While driving we came across a huge herd of migrating raccoons; we were sitting there waiting for them all to finish crossing the road for _hours_."

Booth snickered, while the others looked at us with befuddled expressions. At least I made _someone _laugh.


	8. Finding Some Fun

**I was watching episode 1x04, The Man in the Bear, when I got the idea for this one, so you might want to at least look at the summary for that one to understand what I'm talking about.**

**~_~_~_~_~_~_~**`

_I don't know what to think when she ends her call with Angela to ask where we can find some fun. It's obviously Angela's idea, of course; Temperance wouldn't change the topic so quickly (well, maybe she would, but the way she says it sounds like an Angela quote). I have never been to this town before, but I know what to look for: flashing signs, lots of noise, you know the drill. _

_When we walk in, I feel at ease. It has the feel of a small town while still feeling… like a bar, I guess. Temperance is looking happy enough, and I smile as I lead her over to get a drink. Before I can get too comfortable, though, Charlie the overnight guy comes over. "Temperance, hi! May I ask for this dance?"_

_What? No! Don't agree, Bones… "Of course," she said, smiling slightly up at him. _

_It's a good thing that I don't have anything large and heavy around (that isn't nailed to the floor, that is), or I probably would have thrown it at him. I can't even say anything to her before she gets taken away from me. What kind of justice is this? I watch them dance together with slight annoyance; she looks far too comfortable in his arms for my taste. They're talking, but from this distance even if the music and people weren't so loud I wouldn't be able to hear them._

_But then I spot something that pleases me: Charlie the overnight guy is not the only one vying for my Bones' attention. Standing at the bar and watching the two _very _closely are three other men. I find myself amused, even though I probably shouldn't be; in my opinion, they're only interested in her because she's new and different. If she had lived in this town, I doubted that they would have much interest in her at all._

_Very soon, one of the men goes over and attracts Temperance's attention, taking her out of Charlie's arms and bringing her into his own. Charlie looks disappointed, and she… damn, I can't see her face. _

_This one has even less time to converse with her than Charlie did. Another one of the men goes over to her and steals her away again. And, for the second time, a man walks away with a disappointed expression on his face. They spin around and I can see her face suddenly, and I register slight annoyance in it. Smirking, I glance around. A woman, the vet, is sitting at the bar, and she is positively shooting daggers in Temperance's direction. It's obvious that this woman was the one who had been receiving all this attention probably not that long ago. _

_Her face shows even more anger when the last man shows up and takes her away from her third dancing partner. I must admit, I'm getting slightly annoyed as well. Here are all these men that are obviously interested in her… And she's getting irritated. I quickly move across the room and, just as he's spinning her out of his arms, I catch her in mine. "Mind if I step in?" I say quickly, so as not to seem as rude as I felt. It feels awkward to hold her at first, with a hand on her hip and the other in her hand; it's the most she's ever let me touch her, and it's hard to get used to._

_He retreats like the others did, and I feel relieved. "They were all grilling me about the case." Temperance complains to me._

_I have to fight not to laugh. "Bones, they don't care about the case; they're hitting on you."_

_"Hitting on me?" Oh Temperance, how oblivious you are. It's no wonder you don't have a boyfriend; even if you came across someone who really liked you, you would have absolutely no clue that he did because you're just so… clueless. _

_"Yes, hitting on you. You're probably the prettiest thing to pass through this town since, well… take a look at the competition." I dip her backward so that she can look at the vet (yes, upside-down, but she got my point). Lifting her back up, I say, "I mean, you're something new, something different…" I decide not to finish with 'Any man would want to take you for a ride with so few good-looking females about.' It just does not seem like the wisest thing to do, and she would just go back to the hotel. "It's not as glamorous as it seems, though, Bones; trust me."_

_I see her glance in the direction of Charlie for a second, and feel a slight twinge of annoyance. He's not watching her anymore, and is instead making his way over to the vet. In my opinion, he's not worth the focus; he would get what he wanted from her (which, from the way she had looked at him, didn't sound like it was going to take that long), and then when he got bored he would probably just… let her go. It's not like she'd ever take romantic advice from me, though; I obviously annoy her, and she wouldn't put up with me if I didn't let her go out in the field. The only advice she would take from me is 'Duck!' if something is flying at her head._

_She seems to have thought over what I said. "What if I like being something new, something different?" she mutters. I pretend that I don't hear her. I get the feeling that that was a rhetorical question for herself, and not one for me to answer. Although, I must say; that did not sound like Temperance. Not at all._


	9. I Think I Love You

**This is my absolute first attempt at a song fic, so I'm sorry if it's not as good as some of the others here. The song is "I Think I Love You" by The Partridge Family**

**~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~**

_I'm sleeping, and right in the middle of a good dream,_

_And all at once I wake up from something that keeps knocking at my brain._

Temperance Brennan groaned as she realized that she was once again lying awake in her bed. She had been tossing and turning all night. When she looked at the clock, she saw that she had slept for a grand total of half an hour. It was 6 AM, and she knew she would have to get up to go to work soon. Why was she having _so _much trouble sleeping lately? There was absolutely no explanation.

_Before I go insane, I hold my pillow to my head,_

_And spring up in my bed, _

_Screaming out the words I dread._

There was an explanation, of course. A few days before, Seeley Booth had left on vacation. He would be gone for a month. When he asked her if she'd be helpful enough to drive him to the airport, she agreed willingly enough. Booth had driven her to the airport before, as well as picked her up. It would only be fair to return the favor. Before he left, they held each other in a tight hug; it was obvious that both of them would miss the other very much, even though they had not seen each other for much more than a month before. "Be careful Bones." Seeley warned her.

"Of course I'll be careful. I'll try to save any kidnap attempts or murder threats until you get back so that you can come to my rescue." She joked in return. He had smiled and laughed slightly before walking off to his terminal. He turned back once, to wave, and she waved back.

But for three nights in a row, Temperance had been kept awake for hours, too deep into thinking to be able to fall asleep. And what was filling her head? you might wonder. None other than Seeley Booth himself.

At first, she thought it was just that she was concerned about his welfare. _He'll be fine, Temperance. What could happen? And what the hell are you worrying so much about? _But these assurances did not help, and her mind began straying to Seeley himself. Or, not exactly Seeley, but more… the things that made him _him_ in her eyes. The way he made popular culture references that she didn't comprehend in the least. How worried he always was about her, no matter how many times she assured him that she was _not _going to die. How well he interacted with the family members of victims in their cases… just the way he always seemed to understood. How ridiculous he was…

And from this, she simply went to _missing him_. Quite… a lot more than she wanted to admit that she missed him.

"It's nothing." She told herself the first night. "I'm sure I'll be able to sleep just fine tomorrow." But she wasn't able to sleep just fine.

Finally, we get to where we are right now. She stared up at the ceiling, thinking. _There has got to be some good explanation for why I miss him so much. Hell, I don't even miss Ange this much when I haven't seen her for _ages. _Why is Booth so different? _She puzzled over this for quite some time.

And then a little voice spoke from the back of her mind. _Maybe you love him._

"I do not love Booth." She told herself this out loud, as if she felt that it would carry more fact than if she were to just think it. "Booth is… Booth. I couldn't love Booth." But then thoughts of him filled her again; she pictured him smiling at her in the crooked, mischievous way that he sometimes did which always made her heart pound. She thought of the first time he tried to guide her through a door by putting her hand on the small of her back, when she yelled at him about being capable of walking; by the time she had seen him off at the airport, this same action sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

_I think I love you!_

She gulped. "D-do I love Booth?" _Yes. _The voice answered, stronger and more commanding now. _Yes you do._

_This morning, I woke up with this feeling I didn't know how to deal with_

_And so I just decided to myself_

_I'd hide it to myself, and never talk about it._

It didn't seem wise to admit that she thought that there was a _slight _possibility that she was even _considering _the fact that she _might _be in love with her partner. So when she walked into the lab, she didn't mention it to Angela. For years, Angela had been telling her that there was major chemistry between her and Seeley, and for years Temperance had been denying it. It was just stupid to go and tell her that she was even thinking over this possibility.

But she puzzled over it quite a bit over the next 28 days. Being the ever-logical woman that she was, she had to look at the facts. She had to look at all of her opinions of Booth and decide if that added up to any kind of affection that was more than friendly. And to her alarm, the answer that she came to was a big "Yes". Yes, she loved Seeley Booth.

_And didn't I go and shout it when you walked into the room?_

_I think I love you!_

She didn't do this, of course, when she went to pick him up. Blurt out that she loves him, I mean. Booth was so unpredictable, and she had no idea how he would react, so she kept it to herself. But when he walked up to her, carrying his bag over his shoulder… as soon as he said, "Hey Bones.", she knew. And if there had been absolutely _any _doubt left in her mind, when he dropped his bag to the ground, lifted her chin up so that she was looking him straight in the face and kissed her softly, that flew _right_ away.

Quickly, though, he pulled away. "I'm sorry Bones, but I've been waiting to do that, without Caroline or anyone _making _me, for so long… I decided I needed to get it over with."

Without hesitating, she smiled up at him as she said, "There is absolutely no need to apologize." With that, she lifted a hand to pull his tie (in quite the same fashion as she had done under the mistletoe on the occasion that Seeley was referring to), and him, closer to her again.


	10. Five Steamboats

**I decided that it might be fun to write a fanfic from Sweets' point-of-view about the relationship between Booth and Brennan, because he's had to interact with them at some very amusing times. So what better to write about than his reaction to the whole B/B kiss?**

**~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~**

Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan were sitting in my office, and they were arguing – big shocker, right? These two people argued with each other more in a day than Dr. Brennan corrected people in a month; and this was in a _good _month. Sometimes it's so hard to follow their line of conversation that I just sit and watch them go back and forth. Somehow, although I'm not quite sure how, they had gotten onto the topic of Brennan's "relationship commitment issues".

"How can you not appreciate my side of things?" Booth implored. "I thought that scientists were supposed to be open-minded." The smirk on his face could hardly be rivaled by even Draco Malfoy from the _Harry Potter _books.

"If there are multiple people you feel a connection to-"

He didn't let her finish; I got the feeling that they had been through this argument before. "Ha! That's bull shit, and you know it. Haven't you ever wondered what it must feel like to discover that the whole time you were dating someone, they were with another person as well?"

"Booth, I'm sure that at some point in your youth you did things with one girl while going out with another." I kind of had to agree with her. Booth did seem like the type to cheat on his girlfriends.

"Never."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "What about as an adult? You haven't so much as kissed a woman while going out with another?"

"Absolutely not!" he said, smiling proudly. Wow. Who would have t thought?

The next thing that was voiced shocked me even more, however. "So when we kissed last Christmas, you weren't going out with or planning on going out with a woman?"

Whoa, whoa, whoa. What now? "Excuse me? Dr. Brennan, did you just say what I thought you said?"

It was then that they seemed to remember that I was in the room with them. They both glanced at each other before Brennan said, "It's not the way it sounds, honest. It was under mistletoe."

Oh yes. That made it _so _much better. Booth must have seen this reaction in my expression, because he quickly added, "Well yes, that still sounds bad. But Caroline made us do it. I agreed, because I wanted to help Bones' family."

Her family? "You kissed Dr. Brennan… to help her _family_?" This made no sense at all, and it was sounding worse and worse by the second.

"He wanted to get us a trailer so that we could spend Christmas as a family instead of surrounded by criminals…" she explained lamely.

"Because your father and brother most definitely aren't criminals; totally clean records right there." Booth rolled his eyes.

"Hey! You were the one who thought we should get a trailer in the first place!"

I cleared my throat, and they both looked at me. "I hate to interrupt this love fest, but I am _really _confused. Would you _please _continue explaining?"

"I asked Caroline to give us a trailer for the evening… and she agreed, on one condition." Gotta give props to Booth; for an FBI agent with a considerably low IQ (compared to the other people in the room, I mean), he sure got back on track quickly.

"And this condition was that you kiss Dr. Brennan?"

"On the lips. For five steam boats." She added.

Steam boats? "Five what nows?"

"Like seconds. But she counted in steam boats." Booth explained.

"So you kissed, on the lips, for five 'steam boats'?"

They both suddenly looked _incredibly _uncomfortable. And it most definitely was because of my question about the five steam boats. As if clarifying this, Brennan said quietly, "It was more like 10 or 15."

"10 or 15?" I breathed. The rest of it made sense; but they had been kissing much longer than was required of them. "Um, I must apologize for asking this of you, but do you think you could recreate the occurrence as closely as possible?"

"It was a year ago…" Brennan said slowly. "How could we possibly remember what we did a year ago?"

I could name what I had for _lunch _a year ago (a ham sandwich with tomato, lettuce and cheese on top, with coffee on the side. And a cookie), they could remember what happened. "Please just do it like you think you did. I'm supposed to be seeing how you two interact with each other; this is very crucial to that."

"But it was a-" Booth began. I didn't let him finish.

"I _know _it was a year ago, agent Booth. Again: please just do it like you think you did." God. Props taken away for not listening to my full request.

Brennan shoved a hand into her pocket, annoyed, and for a second I thought she was reaching for her car key so that she could leave. But instead she pulled out a piece of gum, putting it into her mouth carefully. "There's no mistletoe in here." She observed, looking around.

"Oh, forgive me for taking down my Christmas decorations some time before _Easter_." I shouldn't have used sarcasm, but they seemed to be seriously stalling.

They both grumbled as they stood up, obviously looking for other flaws. Suddenly Booth said, "Oh, Caroline isn't here. Hmm, maybe I can go f-"

"Or maybe you can just pretend that _I'm _Caroline and get this _over _with, Seeley."

He didn't seem to like the fact that I referred to him by his first name – which was what I intended – and I think he realized that I was trying to use it to show how childish he was being. He did not like a "kid" like me acting like he was the child. Facing Brennan, he said, "Let's just get this over with."

Retelling what it was like would be impossible. It was a completely in the moment thing. But I will try. Instead of Booth pulling Brennan to him, like I expected, she pulled on his tie, making him lean down to bring his lips to hers. They seemed to have forgotten that I was even in the same room as them. And that was most _definitely _more than five steam boats.

When they pulled away, Brennan looked flushed. And she was no longer chewing that gum; Booth, however, was chewing on something that I had not noticed in his mouth before. "That…" I said finally. "Was so not done as a friendly gesture. If you did it at all the way you did for Caroline, that is."

"I think we did it almost exactly the same." Booth mumbled.

"And _I _think that we have some things to discuss."

Brennan looked down at her watch. "Hey, look at the time! I really hate to cut this short, Dr. Sweets, but Booth and I agreed to go and meet this friend of… yeah. Remember Booth?"

"Oh yes, thank you for reminding me! Come on, we should probably hurry. I'm sure he'll be waiting." Booth immediately grabbed his jacket and started leading Brennan toward the door.

"No, I really don't think that we're done here. We have quite a lot more t-"

"No, no, I really think that we _are _done here. Later Lance." Booth said, waving before shutting the door behind him. I almost expected him to stick his tongue out.


	11. Let's Give 'Em Somethin' to Talk About

**I was lazing around today and started humming "Let's Give 'Em Somethin' to Talk About" and thought "Hmm, this would be **_**perfect **_**to write about for Booth and Brennan!" So here we go. I tried to not make it sound totally out-of-character, because I've read a lot like this where they seem nothing like themselves. Sorry if I didn't really succeed.**

**~_~_~_~_~_~_~**

_People are talkin'_

_Talkin' 'bout people._

_I hear them whisper,_

_You won't believe it!_

_They think we're lovers_

_Kept undercover._

Temperance Brennan and Seeley Booth walked into the lab together, returning from lunch at some mysterious restaurant (they wouldn't tell anybody which one, possibly because they had caught Angela spying on them that one time), and as soon as the door opened people turned around to look at them. As discretely as possible, of course.

Angela watched them walk together to Brennan's office and close the doors behind them. As soon as she knew that they were out of earshot, she turned to Cam. "You know how she and I agreed to meet last night and go out?"

Cam nodded. "So?"

"She called me when she was about 45 minutes late to my place to say that she couldn't come. And refused to give any sort of explanation."

"Why does it matter? Maybe she was with her brother or dad…"

While Angela's smile was small, it was an amused one. "She left with Booth."

"Ah." Her face was unreadable as she looked toward Brennan's office again. "I know what you're insinuating, but they _are _good friends. Maybe they were just… talking."

Angela raised her eyebrows at Cam. "Talking. Right. Okay. Cam, ever since Booth started working with us I've been telling Brennan that she should at least test Booth out and see how he goes." The expression that Cam gave was ignored. "It would be just like her to do what I've been suggesting _just _when I've given up."

Cam leaned across the table toward Angela, saying, "Okay, let's say that they _are _going out. Why wouldn't they tell anyone? I'm sure Temperance would at least tell you."

"Maybe they don't want people to know because they don't know how we would react." Angela challenged.

Shrugging, Cam muttered, "As long as they don't have sex in the Egyptian storage room or janitor's closet or anything like that, I don't really care."

"Totally uncalled for."

If Cam had been feeling childish, she might have grinned and stuck out her tongue.

About a week later, Temperance hurried in very late, wearing the same clothes that she had left in the previous day. Booth came in not long after her, looking slightly disheveled. As soon as they left to go to the newest crime scene (a high school where one of the teachers had been murdered), Angela rounded on Cam yet again.

"How in the _world _do you explain that?" she asked.

"Perhaps Dr. Brennan was cleaning the rest of her clothes and forgot that she wore those yesterday." She was smirking, and it was obvious she didn't believe what she was saying.

Angela scowled, and decided to defend her point anyway. "You're being ridiculous. It's _obvious _she slept over at Booth's house last night! Just look at how messy his hair was… And they walked in almost one on top of the other… not in the literal sense, although I wish I could see that." Cam's expression made her add quickly, "Oh, you know what I mean."

_I just ignore them_

_But they keep saying we_

_Laugh just a little too loud_

_Stand just a little too close. _

_We stare just a little too long!_

"Booth, I think Angela and Cam were talking about us." Brennan said as they drove through DC.

"My my, it's so rude to talk about people behind their backs." Booth muttered, shaking his head.

She slapped his arm. "Oh, be quiet. I swear, it seems like they think something is going on between us. Or Angela does, at least."

"If a man so much as puts his arm over a woman, she thinks that there's something going on between them." He mumbled.

Rolling her eyes, she said, "You know what I mean."

"It is kind of funny, you have to admit. I mean, come on; we're partners. We have to spend a lot of time together, that's not our fault. Although, I'm gonna be honest, you're really not helping with your walking into work wearing the same clothes that you wore yesterday."

Brennan glanced down at herself. "Shit. You're right."

He laughed. "Exactly. Although, I must ask, why _are _you wearing the same clothes as you did yesterday? Big date last night?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

She rolled her eyes. "No. I stayed up late writing and fell asleep on my bed. When I wake up, I was so late that I couldn't bother to actually change; I think all I did was brush my teeth."

"Right. Like I said, _not _helping." He laughed again, more quietly this time, as they pulled up in a high school parking lot.

"Look at you! Your hair is sticking up in all directions and you definitely don't look like you spent as long putting your suit on. How come _you _walked in so late?" she challenged.

He shrugged. "I slept late, and didn't have time for a shower. So sue me."

By the following Friday, they had completed the case, and all of them went out to celebrate. Booth and Brennan sat at the counter, while the others sat at a table near them. While the first two were talking, and not really focusing on the others that had come along with them, these others were focusing possibly a bit _too much _on them.

"Look at them." Hodgins muttered to Angela. "It's ridiculous. You didn't laugh so much at my jokes (or the ones you understood, anyway) when we were engaged."

"Look at how they're _looking _at each other!" Cam observed. "I've never looked so intently at _anyone_, I swear to God."

Sweets nodded. "And the closeness between them is definitely more than that usual amount that one would expect from any couple who's happily in love."

They all stared at him. "Do you never _not _say things in a slightly normal way?" Cam sighed.

_Maybe they're seeing _

_Somethin' we don't, darlin'!_

"Either they are secretly going out, or they're really _seriously _stupid." Angela concluded.

_Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about._

_A little mystery to figure out._

_Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about,_

_How about love!_

Brennan was listening carefully to this conversation, then turned to Booth, saying, "They're commenting on everything we do."

"What are they saying?" He couldn't help being a little bit… curious.

"They think we're either 'secretly going out, or really _seriously _stupid'." She quoted. He glanced back to see them all looking in different directions innocently; Angela was reading a fashion magazine upside-down. When he turned back, Brennan added, "I'm surprised that they only gave the two options."

He cocked his head at her. "What do _you _think it is?"

"Hmm…" She stroked her chin thoughtfully. "I think it's that we're partners and have good chemistry."

Booth choked on his drink. "It is comments like that that make it sound like we're going out together." They looked at each other. He was smirking at Brennan and said suddenly, "You know what I wonder?"

"What?"

Before replying, he glanced back at the four people sitting at the table to see if they were watching or seemed to be listening to them. Since it seemed like Angela and Sweets were leaning closer to them than necessary, he lowered his voice. "I wonder what they would say if we really _did _go out together."

For a few seconds, Brennan didn't say anything. And then, with Hodgins, Angela, Cam, and Sweets (as well as whoever happened to be in the restaurant and decided to look at the random couple sitting at the counter) as witnesses, Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan kissed for the first (but certainly _not _last) time in public.


	12. 5 Minutes Later

**Last one I have for you here, because I've finally gotten home. =)**

**~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~****  
**

"That interrogation was a complete and utter waste of time." Temperance Brennan muttered to Seeley Booth as they walked through the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building. "We're even farther away from the killer than we were before, thanks to you."

Seeley scowled. "You thought she did it _just _as much as I did, Bones. Don't blame me when you made the same mistake."

Temperance didn't respond, which was her way of admitting that he was correct. Seeley, knowing that she would not be speaking about that anymore any time soon, said, "Come on, let's just get back to the lab so that you can keep looking at those bones, Bones."

She rolled her eyes before pressing the button. "Very clever."

"Well, I do try." He grinned as the doors opened in front of them. "After you, ma'am."

If it weren't for the fact that Seeley looked at things in an unscientific way that was uncommon for the lab, Temperance would have told him to go away, in slightly less polite terms. "Aren't you a gentleman." She spoke through gritted teeth.

They had just passed the third floor, where the only other agent in the elevator had gotten off, when it suddenly pulled to a halt. Halfway between floors.

**5 MINUTES LATER**

Seeley hung up his cell phone and smiled at Temperance. "Good news. The fire department is on its way and is going to figure out what's wrong."

Temperance groaned. "That could take _hours_. I have dinner obligations!"

**5 MINUTES LATER**

"Are you _sure _you won't tell me who those 'dinner obligations' are with?" Seeley persisted.

She glanced at him. "Why does it _matter_?"

He shrugged. "Just curious. Will you at least tell me if it is one of the male variety?"

"_Yes_, he is one of the 'male variety'." Temperance rolled her eyes.

**5 MINUTES LATER**

Seeley was tossing his box of tic tacs into the air, and then shaking it, and then hitting it against the floor. Temperance was getting slightly annoyed.

"Booth, I swear to God-"

"I thought you didn't believe in God." He interrupted. It's difficult to say if he said this as a helpful gesture or just as an obnoxious gesture, although one must, in all honesty, lean toward the latter.

Temperance was leaning toward this one as well. "That's insignificant! It's just an _expression_, Booth."

**5 MINUTES LATER**

Once Temperance had thrown the tic tacs against the wall, it became quiet in the elevator. But Seeley and Temperance seemed to have a gift for arguing with each other or going on tangents that could _lead _ to arguments.

"I bet Hodgins is doing it _right _now." Seeley muttered. "He promised, but he's probably getting impatient…"

"Booth, he _promised you _that you could. He doesn't break his promises." Temperance assured.

He rolled his eyes. "Did you see that thirst in his eyes as he pictured it? It was obvious he hated agreeing to let me do it instead."

**5 MINUTES LATER**

"I am _not _just defending him because you are my only other option, Booth – are you out of your _mind_?"

Seeley laughed coldly. "Right. Okay. Then why _are _you defending him?"

"I've known Hodgins much longer than I've known you; I trust him. A lot."

**5 MINUTES LATER **

They sat in angry silence.

**5 MINUTES LATER**

"… and when he was 3, we dressed him up like a Corn Flakes box, and all of our neighbors praised the wonderful costume idea…"

Temperance hit her head against the wall and groaned. Hearing about the old Halloween costumes of the Booth family was not her idea of fun, even if the only other option was arguing.

**5 MINUTES LATER**

Temperance walked the distance of the elevator. Glanced down at her watch. Walked in the opposite direction. Glanced down at her watch again. "It's been 40 minutes. What is _taking _them so long?"

"I don't know. Maybe they're waiting for you to stop pacing the damn _elevator_. I'm getting dizzy here."

**5 MINUTES LATER**

"So you're not allowed to get dizzy, but I am?"

Seeley stopped and looked down at her. "What would you rather I do?"

Temperance shrugged. "What about something _useful_?"

He blinked down at her. "Bones. We are stuck in a box that is supported by tons of wires and cables in a freaking _metal shaft_. There is not much that I can do, let alone something _useful_."

**5 MINUTES LATER**

Seeley Booth sat on one side of this "box supported by tons of wires and cables in a metal shaft", while Temperance Brennan sat on the other. They glared at each other in annoyance.

**5 MINUTES LATER**

They had moved closer to the center of the floor, already making up. "And I'm sure that I could have come up with something more constructive." Seeley was saying. "Maybe even target practice."

If he had made this joke as little as 3 minutes previously, Temperance would have been the one to consider target practice. But she laughed. "We've been here for 55 minutes. Not as long as some people have been stuck in elevators."

**5 MINUTES LATER**

Seeley was moving closer and closer to Temperance, his hands lifting to cup her face carefully. Her eyes were closed, and she was waiting silently.

The elevator began to move.

By the time they reached the first floor and the doors finally opened, Seeley and Temperance were standing, leaning against one wall of the elevator, with a considerable distance between them. They both thanked the representatives of the fire department hastily and were on their way (after one of them recognized Temperance as an author and man and got his book out of the truck for her to sign).

"So…" Seeley said eventually. "About those dinner obligations…"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Yes?"

"Is there any way those could be canceled for an alternate person of the male variety?"

"Well," she said slowly, pretending to think for a few moments. Then she looked up at Seeley and smiled. "I think that could be arranged."


End file.
